POLLED CATTLE IN ABERDEENSHIRE. 33 



the polled cattle of Angus, there is absolutely no proof 

 whatever. 



About 1792, or soon after, some Galloway bulls were 

 introduced into Forfarshire by Lord Panmure — the first 

 importation of the kind of which we have any record 

 — and although, as expressed by Mr Bowie, Mains of Kelly, 

 the Galloway cross added to the " dodded ranks," it was 

 not satisfactory in its results, and was consequently aban- 

 doned. It has been shown that, nearly half a century before 

 Lord Panmure's introduction of Galloway bulls, there were 

 polled cattle in Angus, and that, in 1797, " many " of the 

 cattle in the parish of Bendochy, at the extreme corner of 

 Angus, from Lord Panmure's estates, were " dodded, want- 

 ing horns." These, and the other considerations previously 

 submitted, have impelled us to set aside Youatt's second 

 statement as to the origin of the Angus doddies, and to 

 accept the conclusion that they are, as already stated, 

 indigenous to the district ; and that the peculiarity 

 of no horns having suddenly appeared at some remote 

 period, has attained the fixity it now displays through long- 

 sustained selection in breeding. 



A variety of polled cattle has also existed in the county 

 of Aberdeen from time immemorial. The breed, now scat- 

 tered all over the county, formerly had its headquarters 

 in the Buchan district, which originally embraced the 

 lower parts between the river Don and the river Dev- 

 eron. It is stated by Keith, in his 'Diocese of Aber- 

 deen,' published in 1730, that the Thanedom of Buchan 

 " is so called because abounding of old in pasture, paying 

 its rents in cattle — for the word in Irish signifies cow- 

 tribute." ^ In all the early works dealing with the agricul- 

 ture of Aberdeenshire, the cattle of Buchan are referred to 

 as a distinct and useful breed ; but in no book or record 

 of any kind written before the present century have we 



• By others the name Buchan is said to be derived from the Gaelic 

 words " Bo," meaning an ox, and "caen," the head. 



C 



